SPOKANE, WA – As fentanyl sends children to the hospital in Spokane Valley, Police Chief Dave Ellis urged city officials on Tuesday to adopt stricter drug laws before more toddlers find their parents’ stash.
Officers can charge for felony child endangerment if certain drugs are involved, but not fentanyl or opioids. In that case, they would opt for third-degree assault or reckless endangerment. However, neither provides penalties that rise to endangerment with a controlled substance.
State law prohibits cities from adopting penalties that exceed what the Legislature allows, so the city can’t add fentanyl to the list of applicable substances — but Ellis said they do have options.
The Spokane Valley City Council could propose legislation at the state level, adding fentanyl to the endangerment charge, but an attempt already failed this year. Ellis said they could advocate for the change next year or codify it as a gross misdemeanor within the city in the meantime.
“We found an ordinance that was recently passed by Pierce County,” Ellis told the council. “We submitted that to the city attorney’s office, and that’s something you can review as well.”
Pierce County adopted the ordinance last June after the state reported an over 137% increase in youth overdose deaths from 2018 to 2023. The ordinance relies on another state law defining controlled substances as those scheduled by the federal government, except for cannabis.
A guilty verdict could result in 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine, which Ellis also wants the Valley to consider. Spokane County recorded more than 350 overdose deaths last year, with 78% involving fentanyl, but fentanyl-related deaths surged by over 19,000% from 2018 to 2023.
Lt. Jerad Kiehn outlined two cases since January that sent a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old to the hospital. The first child picked up their parents’ paraphernalia, which had fentanyl and methamphetamine on it, and the other ingested a red and blue pill that Kiehn confirmed was fentanyl.
“The child was later unresponsive, and after a significant amount of time, the parents called 911,” Kiehn told the council.
Since the first case involved meth, which falls under endangerment with a controlled substance, officers were able to charge the parent with a class B felony. However, since the second case only involved fentanyl, it only led to 3rd third-degree assault charge, which is a class C felony.
In both cases, first responders and a parent administered Narcan to save the children’s lives. The council voiced support for whatever law enforcement needs to hold parents accountable in the future and plans to return to the topic soon for potential consideration.
“I’m happy to do anything I can to help with that,” Mayor Pam Haley said Tuesday.
